Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

contribution of the Matriarch herself.

“I an here essentially to answer the young man’s question,” he said. “There

is work that we can dowork for a whole people, for a whole world. One

Ertak-drive ship is no longer enough; we want hundreds ven thousands if

that is possible. We are transforming The Project into a mass crash program

for the survival of the race. We are going to build, man and launch a

fleet.”

Nobody spoke. There was no comment anyone could have made which would not

have been ridiculously inadequate to the grandeur of the goal.

At long last Ertak cleared his throat and looked around the red room as if

seeking waverers. He found none.

“All right, Lieutenant Ailiss O’Kung,” be said, “start weeding.”

It was necessary, of course, but it would have been far better for

everyone, now and later, if the necessity had not arisen at all. That

apparently had been Ailiss O’Kung’s fault-but she had made her recommenda-

tion in good faith, and had to be allowed one mistake; if you shot everyone

for the first such, you would never have a next generation. Besides, the

mistake was Ertak’s as well-after all, he had allowed himself to

56 fames Blish

be persuaded, and had turned the recommendation into practice.

Jurg Wester was weeded.

He sought Jorn out at the anteroom of the armorer’s shop, where Jorn was

worriedly awaiting a prognosis on his spacesuit’s homing compass, on Jurg’s

last day at the base. Jorn would far rather have avoided the confrontation,

both for obvious reasons and because his training had so intensified that